the director of the criminal court under the presidency of the prætor

quaestĭo, ōnis, f. [quaero], a seeking.

In gen. (Plautin.):

cave, fuas mi in quaestione,

lest you suffer yourself to be to seek, lest I have to look after you, Plaut. Pers. 1, 1, 52:

tibi ne in quaestione essemus,

id. Capt. 2, 2, 3; id. Ps. 2, 2, 68.—

In partic., an inquiry, investigation, a questioning, question, subject of inquiry:

quaestio est appetitio cognitionis, quaestionisque finis inventio,

Cic. Ac. 2, 8, 26; 2, 36, 115:

quae veri simillima (sententia sit), magna quaestio est,

id. Tusc. 1, 11, 23; id. Fin. 2, 11, 34:

rem in disceptationem quaestionemque vocare,

to investigate, id. de Or. 3, 32, 129:

res in quaestione versatur,

is under investigation, id. Clu. 58, 159:

de moribus ultima fiet quaestio,

Juv. 3, 141:

res in quaestionem venit,

comes under investigation, Quint. 5, 14, 16:

modo aliquam quaestionem poëticam ei proponeret,

Nep. Att. 20, 2; cf. Cic. Att. 7, 19 fin.; Sen. Ben. 5, 8, 6; id. Ep. 48, 1; Suet. Tib. 56:

quaestionem instituere,

to institute an investigation, Quint. 7, 1, 6:

quaestionem solvere,

Sen. Ep. 48, 11; Quint. 5, 10, 26.—

A public judicial investigation, examination by torture, a criminal inquiry, inquisition; the crime is usu. constr. with de:

cum praetor quaestionem inter sicarios exercuisset,

instituted a trial for assassination, Cic. Fin. 2, 16, 54:

verberibus ac tormentis quaestionem habuit pecuniae publicae,

id. Phil. 11, 2, 5:

quaestionem mortis paternae de servis paternis habere,

id. Rosc. Am. 28, 78:

quaestionem fugitare,

id. ib. 28, 78:

servos in quaestionem polliceri,

id. ib. 28, 77:

quaestionem ferre in aliquem,

to appoint, institute, make a motion for, id. de Or. 1, 53, 227:

habere ex aliquo,

Liv. 33, 28:

facere alicui,

against any one, Dig. 34, 3, 20:

quaestionem de furto constituere,

Cic. Clu. 64, 181:

quaestionem instituere de morte alicujus,

id. ib. 64, 181:

quaestionem de morte viri habere,

id. ib. 65, 182;

63, 176: quaestionem habere de servis in caput filii,

id. ib. 63, 176:

ad quaestionem abripi,

to examination by torture, id. ib. 33, 89:

alicui servum in quaestionem ferre,

id. ib. 64, 181:

postulare servum in quaestionem,

id. ib. 64, 181:

quaestiones severius exercere,

Liv. 9, 34:

quaestioni praeesse,

to conduct a trial as judge, Cic. Rosc. Am. 4, 11: quaestiones perpetuae, the inquisitions concerning certain crimes (repetundarum, majestatis, de falso, de sicariis, de injuriis, etc.), conducted annually, after 605 A. U. C., by a standing commission, and presided over by the prætor, Cic. Brut. 27, 106:

judex quaestionis,

the director of the criminal court under the presidency of the prætor, id. Clu. 54, 148; 33, 89; id. Brut. 76, 264:

quaestiones extraordinariae,

trials out of the common course, held under a special commission, Liv. 39, 14; so,

quaestio nova,

Cic. Mil. 5, 13:

A QVAESTIONIBVS,

an attendant in examinations, a torturer, inquisitor, Inscr. Grut. 545, 6; 560, 1. —

Transf.

The court, the judges:

dimittere eo tempore quaestionem,

Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 30, § 74:

totam quaestionem a severitate ad clementiam transtulit,

Val. Max. 8, 1, 6.—

The subject of investigation, the matter, case, question:

perdifficilis et perobscura quaestio est de naturā deorum,

Cic. N. D. 1, 1, 1:

dividere totam de dis immortalibus quaestionem in partis quattuor,

id. ib. 2, 1, 3:

quaestio proposita,

Quint. 9, 2, 39.—

In partic., in rhet.

The rhetorical subject of debate: quaestionum duo sunt genera: alterum infinitum, alterum definitum. Definitum est, quod hupothesin Graeci, nos causam: infinitum, quod thesin illi appellant, nos propositum possumus nominare, Cic. Top. 21, 79. —

The main point in a disputed matter, the issue in a cause: quaestio est quae ex conflictione causarum gignitur controversia, hoc modo: Non jure fecisti: jure feci. Causarum autem haec est conflictio, in quā constitutio constat;

ex eā igitur nascitur controversia, quam quaestionem dicimus, hoc modo: jurene fecerit,

Cic. Inv. 1, 13, 18; cf. id. ib. 1, 6, 8.—

A question, a disputed point, quaestio est, it is doubtful, may be disputed:

sapientia efficit sapientis sola per se: beatos efficiat necne sola per se quaestio est,

Cic. Top. 15, 60; id. Tusc. 4, 13, 29; id. Inv. 2, 20, 60:

quaestio est, an, etc.,

Quint. 7, 3, 22; cf.:

nulla quaestio est,

Aug. Retract. 1, 19, 6; cf.

also: in quaestione est,

Plin. 11, 17, 18, § 57; 10, 22, 27, § 52:

quaestionis est immensae,

id. 7, 28, 29, § 101; 28, 2, 3, § 10.